Today we reviewed our trip from yesterday. At dinner last
night, there were reporters and we were able to see the newspaper article that
was published today. We also saw some of Theo’s videos from us jumping off the
boat’s yesterday.
We then saw a video of when Anthony Bourdain was here in
Crete. He got to eat local lamb and experience the culture with Raki, dancing
and more eating. It was interesting hearing about his opinion of Crete and his
reaction to everything that he had seen. It was also fascinating to see how
fresh phyllo is made. I did not realize how labor intensive the process was.
We then learned a little about CocoMat. This is a mattress
company that started in Greece where they make all natural mattresses with no
metal or synthetic materials inside. Instead, the mattresses have seaweed
inside. CocoMat is now a worldwide brand with stores in America, the Middle
East and Italy. There are also hotels which specifically use CocoMat
mattresses.
We then talked about local production of products in Crete.
It was interesting to learn that Europe takes pride in branding country’s
products. For example, Feta is a product that can only be made in Greece. Other
protected products include Raki and loukoumadhes. These are considered traditional
Cretan products which are necessary in the Cretan diet. This means that there
are special tax provisions for these products – making them more user friendly
for the locals.
We then had a special guest, Maria’s aunt. She teaches English
in the secondary high school to students from 15-18 years of age. She described
the education system of Greece to us. The school system is very rigorous in
that students have to pass the Hellenic Examination in order to continue onto
college (university). This exam proves very stressful for the students and very
competitive.
The largest difference is that the education system for Greece
is free for all students. The tuition, even for universities, is covered by tax
payer dollars. However, students will have to pay additional money in tutoring
in order to learn a different language, or take extra courses. This does force
the parents to pay extra to get a more well-rounded education.
She was also describing her son’s wedding to us. She is
helping with planning the wedding and was very excited talking about her son.
Something that was interesting was how the bride and groom must get dressed in
two separate places. For getting dressed, the men help the groom and the women
(bridesmaids) help the bride get dressed. Then the groom arrives at the church
first before the bride. Traditionally, to get married, you go to the place of the
bride to get married because it traces back to the idea that the man is coming
to take the bride away from her family.
It was funny listening to her describe the reception. There
was so much food! She said that there was the appetizers, pre-main course and
then the real main course. It reminded me of our dinner last night where there
was just so much food and we were so full from everything! The meal ended with
wedding cake and traditional dessert that is in the shape of a flower with
honey and almond on top.
No comments:
Post a Comment